End of the Line 1 : Academy
by Thunderman88
Summary: This is the first part of my "End of the Line" series, which features a lot of characters from different series in a desperate struggle to save the whole galaxy. Here, the characters from "Star Trek Academy" are back in action, and ready to rock! Review!
1. Prologue

So, here begins the adventure… or, to be exact, this is just a continuation of the '90s comic "Starfleet : Academy"; I read it and I actually liked it, so why don't start it over again?

**Prologue**

_Starfleet Command, San Francisco, Earth_

The man who was looking through the force fields that separated him from the outside air looked indeed in deep thought. The golden pipes on his collar, in his black-grey standard Starfleet uniform, indicated he was a Vice Admiral. His face was the one of a healthy, well kept-off, fifty years old man, but his deep blue eyes were saying he had been through one of the realms all the races in the galaxy knew as Hell, and wasn't broken from it. The black and short beard that surrounded his mouth was adding to his calm aura of experience.

The door beeped. "Come in." said the man, not even making the move of turning around. Inside the office came another officer, a blonde female Trill. "Greetings, Commodore Zund. I am confident your trip here was pleasant!" said the man, turning and nodding to the woman. "It was boring, sir. As boring as you were when you were eight years old, and bothered your father with tons of questions about starships!" answered Zund, whose toneless voice contrasted sharply with her words and her smirk. The man chuckled. "You know, sometimes joined Trill do creep me out!" "You should be accostumed to this, Admiral. And you should remember my previous host was a great friend of your father's." "Yeah. Who once, to keep me in line, took out the phaser and made a burning hole near my head!" The Trill snickered. "The face you made… was priceless!" "But maybe has escaped to you, that know I am your superior, so I have many methods to make you sorry for that. What do you have to say to that?" "You would have already done that!" "Busted!"

A comfortable silence ensued, in which the man still eyed the Trill with a barely controlled smirk on his face. At last, he sighed. "Ok, now that we have run out of good ol' memories, let's talk about work!" "Very well, Admiral. How much trouble am I in?" The man laughed briefly. "My, my, pretty jumpy, huh? Don't worry, Commodore, you're not in trouble. I just wondered what you should say to this!" And he handed a PADD to her. She took it, and read it. When she gave it back, her expression was of total surprise. "Well? Can I hope in a more verbal response?" Zund breathed, then she said : "Well, I just didn't expect it. But it's a perfect choice!" The admiral eyed her suspiciously. "Are you sure? You know them way better than anyone, and this is no game. This is a serious thing, and if you have the slightest doubt that they aren't up to the job…" "I understand my responsibilities towards Starfleet, Admiral. But I couldn't be more sure : they are up to this. Most assuredly." The man looked straight into her eyes for a minute more, then he leaned back on the chair. "Very well, I was more than half-convinced about this, but your reassurance makes it. They're going for it!" The Trill looked excited. "Well, if you don't mind that from their ex-instructor and supervisor, thank you, sir! They deserve an opportunity like this!" "To do what? Go to Talos IV and receive a death sentence? To avert a telepath massacre? No, waitaminute, they already did that, didn't they?" They both chuckled, then the admiral stood up. "Now, since I just wanted to speak about that, why don't we have lunch? There's a good restaurant nearby!" "Ok. But I'll pick up the drinks!"

They exited the room, chatting like old friends. On the desk, the abandoned PADD lied there. On his screen, the letters were still formed into a series of names.

USS ZHUKOV NCC-26136 AMBASSADOR-CLASS HEAVY CRUISER

STAFF ASSIGNMENTS PROPOSAL

CO : CAPT. MATTHEW DECKER

XO/SCI : LT. CMDR. T'PRIELL

TAC/SEC : LT. CMDR. PAVA EK'NOOR AQABAA

ENG : LT. NOG

CONS : CMDR. EDAM ASTRUN

Here we go. The Omega Squadron members (still living, of course, but I'm thinking about taking the dear trespassed for a visit) assigned as senior officers to the same ship. They could make it as a team when they were cadets, now they're gonna have to do it as regular officers.

Ok, a few pointers : we are in my personal "Shatnerverse", so Kirk died on Veridian III but was brought back to life. He's gonna make an appearance here, but he'll become a regular in the next parts of my series.

For the ones who don't know it, CO means Commanding Officer, XO First Officer, SCI Scientific Officer, TAC Tactical Officer, SEC Chief of Security, ENG Chief of Engineering, and CONS Counselor.


	2. Chapter 1

If there's anyone following this, I'm sorry for the delay, but I had a lot of uncertainty about this one; these are not easy and well-defined characters, so I hesitated a lot before deciding my course of action.

**Chapter 1 : Together again?**

Starfleet personnel had a way of putting official-looking names to the most trivial things; for example, everyone called how Vice Admiral Jonathan '_Gentleman Jim_' Stryker behaved when he received someone in his office, '_Jim's Rules of Engagement'._

First, he would be reading a PADD, and would keep on reading while the visitor would stand there in attention. After a second, he would put it down, raise his gaze and folding his hands together. If there were more than one person, he would look at each one of them in the eyes, starting with the first one to the left and proceeding to the right. Then, he would take a deep breath and would place his hands on the table, standing up. And then he would talk.

"At ease, gentlemen!" he said. The five officers relaxed their positions; their expressions were carefully neutral, but Stryker's piercing eyes noticed the curiosity and the tinge of fear. His lips curved into a grin. "And just to make sure, you aren't in trouble. I called you here, because I'd like to discuss a certain project with the five of you!" He mentally chuckled noticing the relief in their eyes.

Taking up a PADD (not the one he was reading before), in an official tone he announced : "Starfleet Command has accepted my venture project to see if it would be more convenient to keep field teams that displayed exceptional promise and remarkable teamwork a little more together than before. Since you were all members of the Omega Squad... and given all you did together, in both good and evil, I think you would be ideal to be the guinea pig for this assignment. The same provides for the selected officers to be appointed senior officers of a starship, under my direct supervision, and their performance in handling command and responsibilities would show the rightness or the error of the concept."

They were already beginning to assume a thrilled expression, so he quickly added : "I know you were friends, but before acting as a team, one must learn how to act alone; so, since that this is strictly voluntary, I'm gonna ask each of you... Are you available for this? Lieutenant Decker?" The young Human officer nodded vigorously. "Aye-are, sir!" Now he turned to the Andorian female. "Lieutenant sh'Aqabaa?" She merely said : "I'd be honored, sir!" The Ferengi. "Lieutenant Nog?" "I'm in, sir!" the youngster replied, eagerly. "Lieutenant T'Priell?" The hybrid Vulcan/Romulan said plainly : "Yes, sir!"The last one was Edam Astrun. "Lieutenant Astrun?" He tilted his head a little, maybe sensing something more than he should from the Admiral's mind, and he nodded. "Ready, sir!"

Stryker returned slowly to the desk, and picked up another PADD. One or two taps, and then he said : "Well, congratulations! You are the new senior officers of the _Zhukov_! It's a bit old, but she's still got some life into her, and they wouldn't spare a more modern starship!" The grimace on his face told Decker, who was a master of deciphering the expressions of Flag Officers, that 'they' (probably current leading Admirals like Jellico or Nakamura) had to resist quite hard to his insistence, because Gentleman Jim's resolve was legendary even amongst the Klingons and the Romulans.

The door beeped, and following Stryker's "Come in!", a certain Trill came in. "Ah! Commodore Zund, you come at the right time! Your ex-pupils just signed in." "I never doubted that!" she said, saluting her old students with a nod and grinning widely. This was too much for Pava, who said : "Excuse me, Commodore, but might that be that you were the one suggesting our names to Admiral Stryker's attention?" Zund looked at her, and cryptically answered : "Perhaps!"

A discreet coughing focused their attention on Stryker. "Since you accepted this assignment, now I must inform you that, for the duration of the program, you will receive temporary brevets. We can't have a Lieutenant command a heavy cruiser, can we, Mr Decker?" he chuckled, while taking out a small box, full of pips. "So, based on Starfleet Order 3465, Stardate 55360.1, I bestow upon you the temporary rank of Captain..." and he pinned two more pips on Decker's collar, "...Lieutenant Commander..." and one white and one black pips found their places on Pava's, T'Priell's and Nog's collars, "...and Commander!" and one pip ended the sequence being added to the preexisting two.

Gentleman Jim took a step backwards and added : "The staff positions will be sorted according to the Omega Squad's formation; so, Captain Decker will be the commanding officer, Commander T'Priell shall be first officer and science officer, Commander sh'Aqabaa will take the place of Tactical Officer and Chief of Security, Commander Nog will take care of Engineering, and, last but not least, Commander Astrun shall be the Ship's Counselor. I hope you'll find the situation according to your wishes." "We'll do our best, Admiral." assured Decker, exchanging happy sneers with the others, with Stryker and Zund pretending not to notice.

But the Admiral's lopsided grin told them he was far from not having a sense of humour. "I think there is no more to say. The _Zhukov_ is currently about to reenter service after a refit, she will be ready in ten days; I would suggest you to get on board seven or eight days from now, so you'll get to know the ship a little before getting underway... and I invite you to see my suggestion as an order!" The general snicker that followed was in sharp contrast to the sentence, but this was one of his most overused and popular stunts. He ignored it, but his voice was trembling a little when he ended : "I shall get on board the tenth day, with Commodore Zund; I will bring you the orders from Starfleet, and then..." and he crossed his arms on his chest, with a carnivore predator's looks on his face, "we shall see how much the Deadmen rock!"

_Ten days later, San Francisco Fleet Yards_

"Science department ready, Captain!" "Tactical systems in stand-by, Captain!" "Impulse and War engines in stand-by and ready, Captain!"

Matt relaxed in the old-fashioned yet comfortable command chair. At his right he could see Stryker and Zund standing, the first in a way that would have made any marble statue proud, the latter with an expression full of expectations. He turned to his left, to order the Ensign in charge of the comm : "Signal the Dockmaster we request permission to leave drydock!" "Yes, sir!" His gaze returned on the main screen; he would never tire of that sight.

"Permission granted, sir." "Very well; Mr. Donhaya, engage thrusters, then go to impulse, half power." "Aye, Captain!" His chair squeaked a bit when he turned slightly to look with the corner of his eye the flag officers; as the background noise of the engines went up of a tone or two and the arches of the drydock disappeared from the screen, a huge grin went on Stryker's face, and he sighed. A gesture imitated by Decker, as the excitement began to be attacked by uncertainty. Was he up to the task?

"Only one way to find out!" he said to himself.


End file.
